KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A former Target employee who planned to "cause havoc" was identified Monday as the man suspected of killing two people in a crowded mall parking lot Sunday before he was shot by police inside the mall.

David W. Logsdon, 51, was stopped by police while driving the car of his next-door neighbor, Patricia Ann Reed, 67, who police also found dead earlier that day in her home in the 3700 block of East 93rd Street. Police did not say how Reed died or if Logsdon was a suspect in her death. But they believed the events were connected.

"David Logsdon had a plan," Police Chief James Corwin said. "And that plan was that he had been an employee of that Target store and had been turned down for a private security license. His objective was to go to the mall and cause havoc."

Suspect Shot In Arm

At 3:11 p.m., less than two hours after finding Reed's body, an officer stopped Logsdon at a convenience store in the 1311 block of Bannister Road after seeing him driving Reed's car. Logsdon and the officer exchanged fire, and both were wounded. During a struggle, the officer managed to take two firearms away from Logsdon before he sped off. The wounded officer then alerted dispatchers after Logsdon fled.

"By confronting that individual and taking the guns off that individual, and actually shooting and wounding him, the officer slowed (the gunman's) progress down," Corwin said.

Corwin said the officer at the convenience store was shot in the arm, but the wounds were not life-threatening.

"That particular officer saved lives," Corwin said.

He said had Logsdon not been shot in the arm, the number of fatalities could have been much worse because he had been armed with two handguns and a long rifle.

'Gunman On The Loose'

Sixteen minutes later, shots were reported at Ward Parkway Shopping Center. Corwin said a man and woman were killed near their cars in the parking lot on the west side of the mall. Logsdon shot those people after pulling his car into a parking spot, police said.

Shoppers who heard the gunshots ran.

"My daughter called and said, 'There's a gunman on the loose.' I'm like, 'Excuse me?'" shopper Lennette Broom said. "As I'm getting ready to throw my car into park I hear, 'Pow, pow,' glass shattering. People running out the door."

"One of the gentlemen came into Dillards said the guy tried to shoot him. He was coming out of Eyemasters and the guy pointed a gun at him," shopper Sharon Cox said.

Officers from all over Kansas City and Leawood, Kan., responded.

An officer shot and killed Logsdon after seven people had been wounded, including one who remained hospitalized Monday.

"They confronted the man and after confronting him, shot and killed him," Sgt. Tony Sanders said.

Logsdon was shot just outside the Target store where he used to work, officials said.

31 Rounds Fired At Mall

Sgt. Dave Bernard said a preliminary investigation revealed 31 rounds had been fired at the mall. Bernard said officials presumed those were from Logsdon's .30-caliber carbine, but the investigation continues.

The names of the two officers who shot Logsdon were not being released Monday. But Corwin said the officer at the convenience store was 45 years old and a 15-year veteran of the department. The 35-year-old officer at the mall has been with the department 10 years.

"The police officer at the convenience store started to stop (Logsdon's) plan, and the officer at the mall stopped something that could have been very, very bad," Corwin said.

Sister Says Logsdon Had Mental Illness

Logsdon attended Ruskin High School but never graduated, KMBC reported.

Police said Logsdon had applied to the police department to be certified as a security guard but he had two outstanding city warrants and was denied.

Logsdon's sister, Kathryn Cagg, said Logsdon had a mental illness and was also an alcoholic. She said in 2005, the family had taken him for treatment when they were concerned that he would commit suicide. He was released from the treatment after six hours, she said.

"I wish he could have received the help he really needed," Cagg said.

She also apologized to the victims' families but did not take questions.

"My heart is heavy with grief and great pain," Cagg said. "When a tragedy like this occurs, we want to understand the reasons. There is no way to understand this senseless act and so we must, we must turn it over to God."

2 Shooting Victims Were 'Random'

The victims shot to death at the shopping center were Leslie N. Ballew, 33, of Kansas City, and Luke A. Nilges, 30, of Shawnee, Kan.

Corwin said it appeared Ballew and Nilges were random victims and did not know Logsdon.

Ballew lived in a townhome near the Country Club Plaza; she had just returned from the Netherlands and was starting over after a divorce, KMBC reported.

Nilges was close to graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology from the Overland Park, Kan., campus of Ottawa University, KMBC reported. He had planned to attend graduate school in the fall.

Nilges wrote a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star a year ago. It said, "I've never told others that I've turned my life around. I showed them."

Coincidentally, the letter was published on April 29, 2006 -- exactly one year before the mall shootings.

'He Was A Little Bit Strange'

Denelle Brown, 41, who lives on the same block as Logsdon and Reed, said she knew Logsdon's family and that she was very close to his mother, Cora Logsdon.

"When I had problems growing up as a child, his family took me in," she said. But she said David Logsdon was "different."

"He was a unique individual," Brown said. "He was into scientific things. He was into UFOs and all different kinds of scientific things. ... He was a nice guy. He was always a little bit strange."

James Williams, who lives across the street from the homes, said he had seen Reed in her front yard recently.

"The last time I saw her she was outside to let her flag down low for the Virginia Tech shootings," said Williams, 47.

Corwin said bomb squad crews were called to Logsdon's home Monday after police reported his house had been "booby-trapped with a self-made bomb." But police later said the device was "a propane tank with boxes surrounding it" and was harmless.

Mall To Reopen

The Target store was closed Monday. Target said in a press release that it "expressed its deepest sympathies to the families of those affected by yesterday's tragic situation at the Ward Parkway Mall."

The company said Logsdon was a former "team member" at the Ward Parkway Target store and that "he left on his own accord" in November 2006. The company said it would not provide any other details about his employment.

The Ward Parkway Mall will reopen on Tuesday. The Mall will offer counseling to staff members.

Meanwhile, customers who left their vehicles in the parking lot after the shootings can retrieve them, police said.

Pants Credited With Saving Life

One of the mall's customers said a pair of pants may have saved her life.

Jennifer Small said she had been shopping in Target when she decided to try on a pair of pants.

"While I was in the dressing room, that's when the shooting started," Small said.

She said she heard screams as other shoppers ran for safety.

"And then my friend came running in, saying, 'There's a shooter. Come on, we're leaving,'" Small said.

Dropping everything, they ran to the exit.

"Once we hit the front door, we heard, 'pow, pow, pow, pow' --- several shots," Small said.

Police had shot and killed the gunman at the spot where Small would have been had she not stopped for the pants.

She said she'll never forget seeing people running out of their shoes to try and escape.

Later, she went to another Target to buy the pants.